Follow Accessmilton.com!

SUPPORT LIBERTY'S LAW!

Friday, August 03, 2012

On A National Note...

The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent in July, reflecting a stagnant economic picture as hiring improved but not by enough to make a dent in the sea of unemployed Americans.

The Labor Department report, in a glimmer of positive news after three straight months of dismal jobs numbers, showed that hiring reached its best level since February, with 163,000 jobs added.

But the number brings the economy back to treading-water status. The economy added an average of 151,000 jobs a month this year, roughly the same as last year's pace. That's not enough to satisfy the 12.8 million Americans who are unemployed. It would take 250,000 new jobs a month to rapidly bring the unemployment rate down.

With the rate rising from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent, Republicans amped up their criticism of President Obama's stewardship Friday.

Both sides are expected to use the report to double down on their respective tax plans. Boehner said "any new job creation is welcome news," but that unemployment above 8 percent makes it "insane to raise taxes on small businesses."

Republicans want to extend the Bush-era tax rates for all Americans; Obama and congressional Democrats largely want to extend them for those making less than $250,000, letting rates rise for top earners.

Obama is expected to reiterate that call in an appeal to Congress Friday.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Isn't that where we started in 2009? How does this administration claim to have created 4.5 million jobs and the unemployment rate stay exactly the same as when they passed the second stimulus to save us all?Funny numbers. Oh yes, that's right, saving jobs is the same as creating them, silly me.